Teams selected in competition to remake Castro’s Harvey Milk Plaza

The team led by Groundworks Office in San Francisco proposes raising the plaza to connect it with the surrounding streets, left, and adding steps, above, that would be lit up at night, featuring quotes from Harvey Milk. less

The team led by Groundworks Office in San Francisco proposes raising the plaza to connect it with the surrounding streets, left, and adding steps, above, that would be lit up at night, featuring quotes from ... more

Photo: Groundworks Office

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The team led by Groundworks Office in San Francisco proposes raising the plaza to connect it with the surrounding streets, left, and adding steps, above, that would be lit up at night, featuring quotes from Harvey Milk. less

The team led by Groundworks Office in San Francisco proposes raising the plaza to connect it with the surrounding streets, left, and adding steps, above, that would be lit up at night, featuring quotes from ... more

Photo: Groundworks Office

Teams selected in competition to remake Castro’s Harvey Milk Plaza

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Three local design teams are finalists in a competition that could lead to a makeover of San Francisco’s busy but barren Harvey Milk Plaza.

The plaza runs alongside the Muni station at Market and Castro streets, a major point of entry to the Castro District. It holds the giant rainbow flag that has been a visual landmark of the internationally known gay neighborhood since 1997. But it’s also a sunken space out of sight of Castro Street, a passageway where few people linger.

The nonprofit Friends of Harvey Milk Plaza this year put $160,000 into a design competition that seeks to change that dynamic along with the landscape. Three teams, all local, were selected from 33 submissions:

•Kuth | Ranieri Architects, working with RHAA Landscape Architects and artist Catherine Wagner, includes a large metallic ribbon that would link three corners of the large intersection and in spots be embossed with images and historic details. There also would be an elevated triangular platform made of pink glass that would serve as a community soapbox.

•Perkins Eastman, leading a team that includes Arup and artist Cybele Lyle, would tuck the Muni entrance between a ramped amphitheater that would step up from Castro Street and offer space for gatherings. The intersection would be marked by tall sculptural candles, a reference to the march after Harvey Milk, San Francisco’s first openly gay supervisor, was assassinated in 1978.

•Groundworks Office would raise the plaza and connect it to the surrounding streets as much as possible, moving the station entrance to the west. The landscape architect’s team, which also features artist Jim Hodges and lighting and architectural firms, would feature a procession of steps illuminated at night and embedded with quotes from Milk.

The estimated cost of a full plaza makeover is $10 million, which would need to be raised privately.

The competition was organized by the Friends group and the San Francisco chapter of the American Institute of Architects. More information on the designs is at https://neighborland.com/harveymilk, along with space for online visitors to comment.